KGS installs Clockworks building diagnostics at MIT

May 20, 2014 – KGS Building integrated its software platform into facility operations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). KGS deployed its Clockworks performance management platform on over 60 buildings at MIT spanning over 10 million square feet, monitoring and providing analytics on over 7,000 pieces of equipment using over 14,000,000 data points per day.

MIT’s Facilities’ teams use Clockworks automated diagnostics to prioritize operational problems by cost, comfort impact, and maintenance severity. These priorities are especially important in directing corrective actions, issuing work orders, and justifying resources. In just one 450,000 square foot lab building, through proactive operations responding to automated diagnostics, MIT has saved over $286,000 per year in avoidable energy cost. This has allowed MIT to capture utility incentives for reducing electric and gas consumption through its utility provider, NSTAR.

Clockworks was developed based on more than 30 combined years of research and development, leveraging academic research and cooperative research with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The software supports the Comprehensive Stewardship Group, whose charge is to proactively maintain buildings to maximize the impact and return on investment in MITs infrastructure, including maintaining energy efficiency and mitigating operating costs.

MIT has been moving to a proactive stewardship model, which is especially critical in the research intense environment required by its Facilities. The Clockworks platform has provided them an easy to use tool to help achieve that goal, which is useful for the trades to help diagnose problems, and for management through several dashboard and metric views. Clockworks’ data based prioritization increases the ability to best focus limited resources. In addition, it helps to achieve energy performance goals through correlating maintenance efforts with energy impact real time.

Clockworks prioritizes recommendations for operational efficiency every day by running diagnostic algorithms tailored to specific buildings and equipment with control sequence and engineering parameters. Real-time and historical data from building management systems and utility metering can be accessed through online dashboards, with tools and metrics for many facilities stakeholders.

“Whether the priority is energy cost reduction, improving comfort, or proactive maintenance, our solution provides facility managers prioritized action items to meet their goals. We leverage cloud technology and automated analytics to uncover hidden savings opportunities and identify the root cause of under-performing systems,” said Nick Gayeski, Ph.D., partner and co-founder of KGS Buildings, LLC. “Universities, like many organizations, have tight budgets and a laundry list of maintenance needs, which is why it is so important to know which repairs will yield the greatest benefits. Our automated diagnostics and cost calculations help customers focus on achieving the best results with constrained resources.”

About KGS Buildings
KGS Buildings, LLC is a technology company offering building performance management software with automated diagnostics to building operators, managers and service providers. KGS is member of the Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Technology Partner Program and has formed a strategic technology agreement with Schneider Electric to bring advanced automated diagnostics to their customers. The company is also active in leading research to commercialize building diagnostics with universities, national laboratories, and trade associations. KGS has conducted a cooperative research and development agreement with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with funding from the US Department of Energy. . KGS has delivered real results for reliable energy savings, pro-active maintenance programs, and more efficient operations to customers throughout the building industry. KGS was founded by three doctorates in Building Technology from MIT.